Sanitary napkin



Dec. 25, 1923. 1,6962% 1.. E, LA BOMBARD ET AL v SANITARY NAPKIN Filed Dec. 6, 1926 A TT/JE'NE 5 Patented Dec. 25, 1928.

UNITED STATES 1,696,205 PATENT OFFICE.

LEON E. LA BOMBARD AND MELVIN H. SIDEBOTHAM, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNORS TO SPECIALTY AUTOMATIC MACHINE COMPANY, OF CHELSEA, MASSA- CHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

SANITARY NAPKIN.

Application filed December This invention relates to articles worn by women for sanitary purposes at certain Wellknown periods, said articles consisting of absorbent material usually wrapped in cloth 5 which is herein referred to generically as gauze, and the invention has particular reference to that type of such articles in which the absorbent material is in the form of a flat ad. I P The pads employed in articles of the kind referred to are usually made of thin layers of very absorbent paper,'all of the layers being of the same area, with the result that the edges of the pads are of the same thickness 5 as the midportions. Then, when the article is in use and in its necessarily longitudinally folded condition, its opposite edges are close together and constitute a very thick portion which, when in a moist and then more or less 9 dried condition, causes chafing or irritation.

One of the objects of our invention is to provide an article of the character described which will be so thin at its edges when the pad is doubled or folded along its mid-width 5 that little or no chafing or irritation will result when the article is in use.

Another object is to attain economy in the cost of production by reducing the amount of material employed for the pads, without 9 lessening the utility of the articles.

With these objects in view, the invention consists in the method and the article substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

5 Of the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of one of the improved pads, with a piece of the usual gauze partly wrapped about the pad.

I Figure 2 represents a transverse section of the pad completely wrapped. v p Figure 3 is an edge view of a portion of a large sheet of the pad material, on a smaller scale than the other figures, and illustrating how the sheet is cut to form thin-edged pads :5 without waste.

Figure 4 represents a transverse section illustrating how the article, when folded or doubled for use, will present thin edges.

Similar reference characters indicate similar parts or features in all of the views.

As illustrated by Figure 1, the pad a, made of suitable soft and absorbent material such as the kind of paper usually employed, has bevelled side margins 12 and bevelled end 6, 1926. Serial No. 152,748.

worn it is collapsed more closely than represented by Figure 4., but it will be readily understood that the portion of the article as a Whole which presents the bevelled margins b, 6, side by side will, when worn in the usual place, be quite thin-much thinner than in pads the material of which is cut on lines at a right angle to the surfaces thereof. This avoids the existence of thick edges of material which, after becoming moist and then drying more or less completely, cause irritation or chafing.

Although we do not limit ourselves to making the pads with bevelled ends 0 as well as bevelled sides I), we prefer to make them with all edges bevelled, so that whichever end is rearmost in use, there will be no thick margin extending between portions of the. body which are close together.

Figure 3 illustrates how the pads are made without waste, and in fact are made in a manner to require less material for a given number of pads than must be used if out at right angles to the surfaces of the material as has heretofore been the practice. To attain this advantage We cut a sheet of the absorbent material in alternating oppositely inclined planes as indicated by the lines I) b of Figure 3. In other words, when a sheet is cut as just described, the cuts at b 6 provide the edges indicated at b in the other figures. Each pad then has one surface much wider than the other. The wide surface of every pad so cut provides the proper area to serve the purpose of the pad, While the cutting at the alternating angles such as. illustrated effects a very material saving in the material employed, amount to, approximately, 20 per cent of the stock. From this it will be understood that we provide for attaining economy in the cost of production by reducing the amount of ma terial employed for the pads without lessening the utility of the articles.

The cutting, whether effected manually with the aid of a sharp blade or by a machine which we have devised, is preferably effected by converting a sheet ofthe absorbent material into a series of strips and then cuttin the strips on transverse lines. When all 0 the cuts are effected in inclined planes, each pad will have bevelled end edges as well as bevelled side edges. Bevelled side edges are of the most importance.= Therefore, as hereinbefore stated, it would not be a departure from our invention if the end edges were in planes at right angles to the surfaces.

Figure 4 illustrates the article as folded for use with the wider surface of the pad outermost. Obviously however, if folded with the narrower surface outermost there would still be no thick portion of the article as a whole to cause chafing or irritation.

Having now described our invention, we claim:

1. A fiat filler for sanitar napkin pads, said filler having side edges evelled to present upper and lower surfaces of different areas, all pbrtions of the pad, including the said edges, being of uniform density.

2. A fiat filler for sanitary napkin pads, said filler having bevelled side and end edges and presenting one surface of greater area 

